An unsuitable blog for a woman...

August 31, 2010

Susan here. Okay, okay, I’ll restrict myself to crime fiction bad guys
although the temptation to stray into real life is strong. So, in print, who
stands out in my mind, and why?

Recently, I read Stuart Neville’s THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, in
which there were dreadful Irish mobster characters who cloaked themselves in
the righteousness (if that is what it was) of the Irish Catholic position on
Northern Ireland as a means of carrying out every kind of nasty crime, from
graft to torture to the murder of innocents. It was the hypocrisy on top of the
villainy that repulsed me most.

John Grisham has always had a knack for creating immoral men
and women who abuse their own intellect, education, and privilege to savage us
ordinary people for their own advantage. The powerful jury consultant Rankin
Fitch in THE RUNAWAY JURY is a well-drawn example of such a morally bankrupt
individual.

Cara Black’s villains are sometimes shadowy ghosts of those
who cooperated with the conquerors in Nazi-occupied Paris, and whose actions still
taint the lives of her characters decades later. Her first Aimee Leduc novel,
MURDER IN THE MARAIS, sticks in my mind. For anyone who has walked Paris’s
streets and seen the plaques, the quiet memorials, or the half-swallowed
attempts at acknowledging past sins, this kind of villainy is real.

Norman Bates, Hannibal Lecter - solitary, crazed villains of
this ilk frighten me but don’t affect me the same way. They’re freaks of
nature, random nightmares, as little able to make moral choices as cornered cobras
or hungry grizzly bears. It’s the calculating, sane people who have the same
opportunities to act decently that you and I have and who choose venal or
cardinal sin because it benefits them – and who knowingly, unblinkingly,
trample on and destroy others in order to get more of whatever it is they want
– who form the class of villains that stays with me long after the novels are
back on my bookshelf.

August 30, 2010

It’s
often been said, the villain is the hero of his own story, but isn’t it also
true that without a good villain no hero can truly shine? Consider where Holmes
would be without the evil Moriarty skulking around 221 Baker Street, or James
Bond menaced by a laser beam by a lesser foe than Goldfinger. Without a doubt the
villains make the show. If a story doesn’t have a good one the whole thing
sinks to a level of mediocrity.

In
real life we are often quick to ascribe the label of “hero” to those ordinary
men and women who rise to the call in troubled moments. The pilot who landed
his 747 in the Hudson was such a man. So is the firefighter who runs into a
burning building to rescue a trapped resident. Real life is filled with real
life heroes. But how often do we call someone “a real villain?”

As
I’m writing this, our former governor in Illinois is making the rounds on the
talk shows bragging on how he was only convicted on one count out of
twenty-four. The rest resulted in a hung jury so a retrial is looming. (Has he
forgotten that he wasn’t acquitted and that he was still convicted on one
count?) Well, he wasn’t known for his intellect, only his ego. But is the
former governor a villain? Anyone listening to his profanity laced phone calls,
which were recorded by the feds, has little doubt of the man’s egotism and
stupidity. But a villain . . . I’d be hard pressed to call him one. This
distinction is seldom ascribed in real life.

In
fiction, as I said, good villains are absolutely essential yet care must be
taken not to make them larger than life. A villain who is too powerful ceases
to become a realistic threat. The same applies to a hero. Anybody wonder why
Superman sweats it when Lex Luthor unleashes a new plot to take over? It’s easy
to be nonchalant when you can fly and bounce bullets off your chest. So the
trick is finding just the right combination of menace and vulnerability. The
antagonist/protagonist conflict is what makes the plot move.

Elmore
Leonard is particularly good at etching out creepy villains, yet he keeps them
subdued so they don’t upstage the story. Perhaps the greatest writer of the
Twentieth Century, John D. MacDonald, gave his series character, Travis McGee,
some of the best villains in all of mystery fiction. The Deep Blue Good-bye had
McGee facing off against Junior Allen. Who can forget the brawny McGee’s uneasy
assessment the first time he comes face-to-face with his looming nemesis. He
silently admits to himself that he wasn’t prepared for Allen to be quite so
broad, quite so muscular. And later, in their fight to the death, Allen is
giving McGee all he can handle, despite being shot. When Allen, who is revealed
as the novel unfolds, to be a brutal sociopath, surfaces in the ocean behind
the boat on which they’d been fighting with a malevolent grin, McGee has a
flash of horror. He feels he’s fighting a monster who couldn’t be whipped. The
same with MacDonald’s other antagonists like Boone Waxwell, from Bright Orange
For the Shroud or Max Caddy from The Executioners. (Anybody know the title of
the two great movies made from that book?)

Crafting
a believable villain is an art that only the good writers ever master. Building
up to the inevitable confrontation is also an art. It helps to have a face-to-face
somewhat early on that foreshadows this ultimate battle. And the odds should
naturally be stacked in the bad guy’s favor. What fun is it to see a hero who
easily defeats the bad guy without breaking a sweat? On the flip side, some
care must be taken not to make the villain larger than life. And another fatal
error is to make the villain turn good at the last minute. (Think about Darth
Varder’s demise in the third Star Wars film--- Wait, don’t. That might be too
unpleasant.)Suffice to say,
villains have to be believable and have a certain amount of vulnerability and a
few good points to fit the bill, just like a good protagonist.

In other words, create characters that seem
real and have credible motivations and you can’t go wrong. Just remember, a
good villain makes the show.

August 28, 2010

Staci here. I must confess, whenever I hear the word “villain,” I think of the 1979 comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Handsome Stranger, Ann-Margret as Charming, and Kirk Douglas as Cactus Jack, aka The Villain. But while the movie is funny, provided you like slapstick, cheesy humor, Kirk Douglas’ character more closely resembles Wile E. Coyote than an evil-doer who stands a chance at ruining the hero’s quest for justice.

So what makes a good villain? Mysteries are filled with bad people, from murderers to thieves to con artists. But what elevates a character from a mere crook to a villain?

Clearly, he must be intelligent. No one will worry that the hero is in actual danger from a dumb crook. And he can’t be merely intelligent, but cunning, able to think up ways to trick and trap the hero, foil his plans, and possibly win the war between good and evil. He must also be charming and social to a certain degree, able to move among the general public without raising suspicion as to his true nature (unless, of course, the villain lives in a secret underground lair, but that leans more toward comic book villains).

Preferably, we will see this villain more than once. After we witness the evil plotting and wily maneuvering in his first appearance, we can anticipate his return with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Knowing Number 1, the leader of Spectre, is about to battle wits with James Bond once more, or that Hannibal Lecter is on another killing spree, raises the stakes in the story. Will the good guy win this time?

But, of course, recurring villains are hard to sell in mysteries. Readers want the villain caught and justice served. There’s something dissatisfying about the bad guy getting away at the end of the novel. In fact, I can’t think of a single cozy mystery where the killer escapes or the detective isn’t able to solve the crime. To allow such a thing would imply the hero is inferior to the villain, that sometimes evil does indeed win. This is not something readers like to see, myself included. But, oh, how I love a good villain.

August 27, 2010

Ann Parker here, Friday's child at The LadyKillers every second and fourth Friday, and here we are at the end of another month...

Ooooooh those bad guys and gals. Starting with Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost, they are a source of endless fascination. I still remember that, in my Lit class (back in the Stone Age, aka pre-personal-computers), we spent quite a bit of time discussing why it was that Satan was such a compelling character in Paradise Lost, whereas God and Adam ... meh. (No religious slam intended. This is the epic poem I'm talking about.)

Satan in Paradise Lost ... truly evil or just misunderstood?

Anyhow, if you use Google to explore "creating a villain," you get 56,000+ hits. That's major hits for villainy.

Anyhow, I'm sorry, I have no suggestions for how to create great villains, but I do think it's fun to explore lists such as these, read the comments, and ponder what it is about these characters that "resonate" with us. I'll leave the "writing tips" to other LadyKillers to provide!

August 26, 2010

When I began writing mysteries my agent said to me, "You do know that you're going to have to write about people who are not very nice."

Hmmm... In my Arthurian books I had portrayed Mordred as a schemer and rapist. I thought that wasn't terribly friendly. But I did know what he meant. It's hard for me not to try to find reasons for the horrible things people do. And people who are simply evil, like Iago, need a Shakespeare to make them interesting. Where could I find a good villain? It seemed all the best ones had been taken.

While writing my second mystery, THE DEVIL'S DOOR, I drove through Burgundy and Champagne where, believe it or not, Heloise's Paraclete stood. After several days of staying in cheap gites, one that was a refinished stable with a pump and stone sink for water, I decided to splurge on a four star hotel. My excuse was that it had once been a 12th century monastery.

At dinner that night only I and an English couple were in the restaurant. Apparently, the other guests assumed I didn't speak English for the man was holding forth on a topic that really wasn't my business. He was in his fifties, urbaine with a public-school accent. I don't know much about the woman, for she barely spoke, but she was nice looking and a good twenty years his junior.

"You must understand what this will cost me," he announced. "In my position there are bound to be repercussions."

OK, you guessed it. He was divorcing his wife to marry this woman. He went on and on about how important he was and how she would have to learn to overlook snide comments and become as good [and silent?] a hostess as his wife. He continued by lamenting on how hard this would all be on his little daughter.

The woman finally showed some spunk. "Your daughter is twenty-eight." she said and then subsided into silence.

The man was so archtypically an arrogant, upper class bastard, that I thought. "In my next book, Buddy, you have to die."

I was fairly sure that, if she married him, the young woman would be an alcoholic within a year, or in a padded cell. I started thinking of ways to kill her dinner partner. Then I realized...

He wasn't the victim; of course not. HE WAS THE MURDERER!

If you read THE DEVIL'S DOOR, you'll spot him instantly. I only wish I knew his name. I do want to know if his mistress got out before it was too late.

In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings.

August 25, 2010

I still remember the first time I tried to attack someone
physically. It was self-defense, life or death, but still I froze. The idea of
striking out and injuring another person sent me into panic mode and I nearly
let the attacker win the battle. He'd already shot at me and murdered two other
people. I should have been able to slash him with the knife I'd found in the
attic. What was wrong with me?

But it was my first book and I'd never written a
confrontation scene before. The mere writing of an act of physical violence
made me so anxious, you'd have thought there was real blood spatter in my
office.

What was I thinking, trying to write a mystery? Cozy or not,
SOMEONE had to get hurt "on camera." I steeled myself and sent my
mind to countless other books, movies, and TV shows for inspiration and did the best I could.

Here's the meager offering in The Hydrogen Murder, with the
name of the villain redacted, in case this sends chills up your spine and you
want to read it.

I was willing to risk a lot rather than use the knife on
anything but sealing tape, but my brain was succumbing to my will to live. I
took a deep breath and blocked out the knowledge that the person on the stairs below
me was another human being.

I came down as hard as I could with the knife, catching XX's
hands and arms. I closed my eyes and struck again and again, aware that I was
meeting flesh every time. XX screamed and so did I, but I didn't stop until I
heard X fall. It was at the same time that I heard the police sirens.

Whew.

After 13 books, with three in the pipeline, I've gotten
better at fight scenes but it's still hard to strike out against the
villain. I try to use slippery techniques: literally pulling a rug from under
the killer in one book, sending millions of tiny beads under her feet in
another. I've trapped a killer in a security booth, doused another with acid,
and used a laser pointer to distract another. Anything but actually hitting
someone.

I remember reading my first Sara Paretsky book years ago. It
was the first time I'd "witnessed" a female engaged in a physical
fight with a bad guy. VI was knocked to the curb, got up, slammed into him,
fell down again … wow. I never realized how hard it would be to write
such a scene.

I never have trouble creating a villain. There's always
someone who has annoyed me and is deserving of having his or her ugly
personality immortalized and of being sentenced to life.

August 24, 2010

I’ve never liked the term “good vs. evil”. Not that I don’t want justice to be rendered, the world freed from violence, or wish I didn’t have to lock my door at night. But I worry that “good vs. evil” is misleading, luring us into believing that “evil” is easily recognizable and that the child-abuser or murderer couldn’t possibly be a pillar of his church or that lovely lady who bakes cookies for the neighborhood. And, of course, the person I see in the mirror every morning would never commit a violent act… I wish violence and villainy were that simple, but, if the reasons for violence were clear, why would we write books that ask why murder happens? Now that I have presented myself as a (name your coffee store) card carrying, latte liberal (actually prefer mochas, full-fat, with whipped), let me also say that I do not think murderers just need a group hug to resolve their issues. But any act of violence is a moment of insanity, whether the pressure has been mounting for decades or the impetus occurred five seconds ago. Villains run a range of types including the ethically challenged (OK so gang-bangers have a code but let’s leave that to another time), the emotionally disturbed, and the nice guy/gal suffering unendurable stress. In short, they are complicated people, not just mustachioed fellows who tie Pauline to the railroad tracks and sneak off, saying hee hee. But enough rant—this might elicit some good debate!

August 22, 2010

Our new topic here at The LadyKillers is "Villains." Since we ourselves are LadyKillers, we must love our villains, don't you think? I know I do.

But I'm having a tiny problem writing about the villains in my Faye Longchamp mysteries. Think about it. If I describe my villains to you, then dissect each of their motives for murder, I will accomplish two things. If I do it well, I will have achieved a nice little essay on the nature of crime fiction, which is no mean feat. However, I will also have spoiled your pleasure in reading any of those books. Suffice it to say that Faye's antagonists have motives as varied as shame and the fear of prosecution and the love of money.

I do, however, have one book available that will not be spoiled by a discussion of the villain. My ebook, Wounded Earth, is an environmental thriller and, like most thrillers, the reader knows who the villain is from the very outset.

In the case of Wounded Earth, the villain is known from the first word of the first sentence:

"Babykiller was meticulous in all things."

It is very difficult to construct a three-dimensional villain who murders randomly...I guess. I've never tried it. To me, "He's just bad," is the cheater's way out when it comes to creating a character. Now, someone who calls himself "Babykiller" is pretty darn bad. But this character has a wisp of a human side that, I hope, makes the reader want to stick with him through an entire novel. He's wrapped up in an obsessive love for the book's protagonist, Larabeth McLeod. They have a history together, albeit one that is only revealed late in the book, so he has a somewhat rational basis for that obsession. And he resents her, too, for reasons he reveals to her during one of the many conversations he uses to charm her, like a snakecharmer manipulates a cobra.

Babykiller is brilliant, resourceful, and he has a twisted sense of humor. He is a worthy adversary for my strong, successful, powerful Larabeth, and their protracted intellectual duel drives the plot. Larabeth perseveres, ultimately winning their battle, because that is who she is, but no scene is boring when Babykiller is in it.

And that, ultimately, is the secret to great villains. They can strut, they can snarl, they can be bland-faced operatives from governments not our own, but they must never, ever be boring.